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Kanka

18.05.2022 1469

Kanka is an ancient settlement in the Akkurgan district of the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, 70 km southwest of Tashkent, in the southeastern vicinity of the village of Eltamgali, on the left bank of the Karasu channel (the old channel of the Akhangaran), not far from the confluence of the latter with the Syr Darya. The nearest settlement is the village "Korik" (former state farm "Leninism").

This is an archaeological monument, the ruins of one of the most ancient urban centers of the Tashkent oasis. The settlement is located. The Kanka settlement is the first capital of the Tashkent oasis, one of the largest urban centers of Transoxania during the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The city existed from the III century BC to the XIII century AD .

The etymology of the toponym is debatable, there are a number of points of view. Back in the 30s of the XX century, M. E. Masson suggested the connection of the name of the locality with the "high and sacred" Kangha mentioned in the Avesta and the capital of Afrasiab, the ruler of Turan and the enemy of the Iranian Key Khosrow. But in the end I came to the conclusion that the name of the ruins of Kanka is a tribute to the popularity of the epic Shahnameh

He also cites a local tradition that linked the origin of the name of the settlement with the proper name of the mighty king Kank (or Anka). Another point of view reflects another folk etymology of the origin of the name Kanka from “kon” - “blood" with the meaning “sacrificial", “blood".

Later researchers tend to see traces of historical realities in the name of the settlement — the entry of this territory into the Kangyu state, mentioned by Chinese sources of the II century BC. It is assumed that it was here that the first capital of Shash was located, which was at that time the possession of Kangyu

It is identified with Antioch of Zayaksart (ancient sources), Yuni (Chinese chronicles) and Harashket (medieval road builders and geographical writings).

According to some archaeologists, the Kanka settlement is the ruins of the city citadel of Antioch of Zayaksart — a city founded in III BC on the right bank of the Yaxartes (the ancient name of the Syr Darya River) at the confluence of the Syr Darya and Akhangaran rivers by the Greek commander Demodam during a campaign against the river Saks (Scythians) and named after King Antiochus, since the earliest finds found there date back to the III century BC.

In the Middle Ages, this settlement was known as Harashket. According to the medieval historian Abdul-Qasim Ibn-Haukal, Harashket was the second largest city after Binket in the Shasha area.

The settlement is now conventionally considered to be Antioch of Zayaksart, since it fits the testimony of ancient historians that shortly after the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great, the ruler of this part of the empire — the Greco-Bactrian kingdom of Antioch sent his commander Demodam on a campaign against the river Saks (Scythians), that is, on a campaign on the right bank of the Yaxartes (Syrdarya), where he founded the city and laid the sanctuary of Apollo. That is, the lower layers of the settlement of the III century BC are suitable for the Demodama campaign in time and in size of the settlement.

Other ancient authors, referring to the topic of Alexander the Great's struggle with the Saks beyond the river, casually note the presence of a settled population. Thus, Arrian, on behalf of the Scythian ambassadors to Alexander, reported that the population living across the river consists of Scythians (nomads) and barbarians. In the terminology of the Greeks, this meant a non-Greek settled population. The Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus (I—II centuries AD) wrote about the same thing, that during Alexander's struggle with the Saks, the Scythians lived to the north, and the areas facing the Tanais (Syr Darya) are not devoid of culture, that is, they have cities and villages. It is also important that by the III century BC there is a message about Antioch of Zayaksart, a city that is localized by researchers on the site of the Kanka settlement.

This event is associated with the campaign for the Syr Darya as a reconnaissance and demonstration of the military power of the Seleucid commander Demodam in 293 BC. He agreed to establish and not violate the borders between the Seleucid possessions and the Scythians and as a sign of this erected an altar to Apollo Dedimiysky. In addition, Demodamus named the newly fortified city Antioch, in honor of Antiochus I Soter, ruler of the upper (i.e. eastern) satrapies, son of Seleucus I and Apama, daughter of Spitamen. Perhaps traces of this event can be traced in the later name of the city, known by Arabic road builders and geographical writings as Harashket, that is, "The City of Royal Grace" or "Royal City".

In 1966, the settlement was examined by the Chatkalo-Kuramin archaeological team

In 1969-1972, excavations were carried out at the settlement by a detachment of the State. Department of Protection of Monuments of Material Culture (K. Abdullayev)

Since 1974, the settlement has been studied by the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (one of its basic objects)

In 2007-2008 and 2012, small works were carried out by the Department of Archaeology of the National University. The settlement is of great scientific importance, its study continues, but already now it is a unique historical and cultural monument of the region and may well be used as an object of tourist excursions in the history of the region.

The settlement was studied and described by an expedition led by academician Yuri Buryakov. It was established that a city existed on the site of the settlement at the end of the IV century BC. Its remains with three rows of walls surrounding an area of 160 hectares have been preserved among the fields.

Traditionally, Central Asian cities consist of three components — the citadel, Shahristan (the actual urban area) and the suburb-Rabad. But the peculiarity of Kanka is that in terms of it it includes three urban territories of Shakhristans, as if inscribed into each other, each of which was surrounded on three sides by powerful defensive systems. On the fourth side, their common border was the high bank of the river, along which the wall also ran.

The total area of the settlement is about 500 hectares. It looks like a large hilly massif, at the far end of which a conical hill rises fifty meters — the former citadel. In addition to the citadel, there are three more rings of external walls. The excavations have shown that the walls of the third Shahristan are the oldest, and not the inner one, as one might assume, based on logic, that the city gradually grew and was surrounded by a new and new ring of walls.

The citadel itself was additionally protected by a crescent-shaped moat, so deep that it is still filled with groundwater and rainwater, which is why an impassable swamp has now formed around the remains of the citadel. The only available road to the top of the hill (the remains of the citadel) starts from a narrow isthmus and then climbs the steep slopes of the hill in a geometrically regular spiral.

On the top of the hill there are the remains of four towers and a temple of the Aryan religion. A sacred fire was once maintained in the temple, which was never extinguished. Terracotta statuettes of the goddess of fertility Anahita and animal figures — boar and sheep were found on the territory of the settlement. According to historians, the figure of a ram is a symbolic representation of the life—giving power of Solar Grace — Farna. The boar figurine is probably connected with the cult of the Scythian deity Veretrang, who accompanies and protects the sun rider Mitra.

For a long time of the existence of Shahristan I, cultural layers of 20-meter thickness have accumulated. A stratigraphic excavation in the north-western corner of Shakhristan revealed that at an early stage the inner-city buildings were almost closely adjacent to the fortress wall and consisted of semi-earthworks. Then it was replaced by capital ground houses. The fortification of Shakhristan I was built according to all the rules of the ancient military tradition with a double fortress wall, with towers and loopholes, with a two-tier intra-wall corridor. From the outside, the base of the wall was reinforced with an outrigger wall berm, which prevented the supply of siege and battering machines of the enemy. The earliest construction horizons date back to the end of IV—II BC. Moreover, in the ceramic complex of dugouts, dishes made professionally on a potter's wheel predominate and reveal analogies among the ceramics of Sogda of this period. It seems unusual, at first glance, such a combination of capital developed fortress fortification, handicraft ceramics and housing in the form of dugouts. However, housing in the form of dugouts is known in the settlements of the Greco-Bactrian period (III—II centuries BC) in Kashkadarya.

A similar situation — a combination of fortifications, dugouts and ceramics, indicating a developed professional pottery production, is observed in the Greek cities of the Black Sea region in the IV—II centuries BC in the contact zone of the Scythian population and Greek colonists. It is noteworthy in this regard that the remark of the Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy (II c. AD) that the Saks living along the Yaxartes (Syr Darya) live in caves. By the latter, he most likely meant dugouts.


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